


Heaven's in Purgatory

by KMYash



Category: Avengers (Comics), Captain America, Iron Man - All Media Types
Genre: Angels, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-21
Updated: 2013-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-12 11:51:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/811306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KMYash/pseuds/KMYash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course Tony would be the type of angel to get himself exiled from Heaven, that's a no brainer. He breaks the rules and abandons his duties and doesn't care. Except exile is painful and he's actually innocent of the crime they've accused him of.  Well at least the people in Purgatory are nice. Even if some of them are demons.</p>
<p>AU where Heaven is a city run by angels with two militant groups. One is the SWORD of heaven, led by the first angel Johann, and keeps the demons out of Heaven. The second is SHIELD which keeps the home front safe and is led by Steven. Tony just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heaven's in Purgatory

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [RBB Art - Offering A Hand](https://archiveofourown.org/works/810896) by [phoenixmetaphor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixmetaphor/pseuds/phoenixmetaphor). 



> For Cap Iron Man reverse bang 2013. Lovely art inspiration was by PhoenixMetaphor.

The blistering heat was killing him just as surely as the constant bleeding from the stub of what had once been his right wing. Anthony had never been this far from Heaven and for the first time it seemed obvious why so many humans struggled and fought for passage into Heaven.

That thought brought a pinch of homesickness to the front of his chest. He was never going to see Heaven again. Anthony was never going to see the inside of the small workshop he had put together in order to tinker with all the new technology that came into Heaven from Purgatory. Janet was never going to bother him to actually do his assigned job while skirting her own responsibilities. She was never again going to bring Henry over so they could bicker over technology.

He was never going to fly again.

Sometimes even Tony knew that he had to learn to shut his mouth and keep is head down. Maybe if he had, he wouldn’t be wandering the desert dying. Instead he let his curiosity get the best of him. And right now wishing and praying to the father that had already cast him out of paradise was going to do nothing to save him.

Nothing was going to help.

He was going to die alone in the desert, cursed by his own people.

The loneliness was the worst agony and the last thing he felt before collapsed into the sand.

\----

“You realize your job is to deliver messages, not take new toys to play with from the people you’re supposed to be delivering message to.”

Anthony snorted and quirked an eyebrow at his longtime friend, knowing that she was slacking off on her own duties as a cupid herself. Messenger wasn’t the most glamorous of jobs in Heaven but it was well respected and Anthony was constantly being reminding of that fact by his superiors. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t be the ‘Supreme Arch Angel of Tinkering’ or something more interesting. Then again most of what he did was technically illegal within the walls of Heaven. Technology from Purgatory was dangerous and was said to have been created through shedding of innocent blood and sin.

In all of his exploration of the technology, Anthony found no evidence of that so he figured that it must have been some old wives’ tale from the time before.

“Janet this is tech from ‘Before’! I’ve never even seen something as old as this. This is probably going to be my only chance to look at something this beautiful.”

Her wings spread out in a mirror of the surprise on her face. Janet’s wings were small and soft gold. Their culture thought that bigger wings were more beautiful, but few looked at Janet and thought she was any less beautiful for her small wings. Sometimes he regretted that things never worked out between the two of them, but he couldn’t regret the friendship they had now or the happiness that Janet found in her bonding with Henry.

“From Before? That’s pretty dangerous Anthony. Not only because most technology from before Father recreated the world is still unknown but also because it will put you on the Sword’s radar.”

Everyone knew the story of how the world came to be what it was today. God made humans and gave them the world but all they did was start wars and destroy everything. One day God decided enough was enough and destroyed all human civilization. Then he sent his angels down to earth to watch over the surviving human population and make sure that they never again destroyed the gift God had given them.

The angels had come down and built the city of Heaven, letting humans that followed the laws live with Heaven’s walls. Within Heaven all angels had a duty. There were messengers like Anthony who brought the word of their father to the humans and cupids like Janet who monitored the population of humanity never letting it fall too low or grow too high. Along with messengers and cupids there were patron angels, guardian angels, and of course there were soldiers. Of all the soldiers, Shield and the Sword garrison were the most decorated of them all. Shield protected Heaven from enemies within its walls. Sword protected Heaven from outside creatures that would like to destroy their home.

Anthony wasn’t most beloved angel in Sword’s eyes. He had a tendency to bend some of Heaven’s more innocent rules.

“I know Janet, but look at the wiring on this thing. It’s gorgeous. And you know me; my greatest sin to overcome is lust.”

Janet rolled her eyes but the worry had drained from her face and wings. Angels weren’t perfect. Each was perfectly aware of which sin they were forced to live with and try to overcome. Janet was stricken with pride of her own beauty and style although Anthony always thought she was more successful than he was at curbing her sinful nature.

“So, now that you’ve pulled me into your criminal activities, are you going to tell me what it is?”

“Not sure yet. I don’t think it was ever completed.”

Anthony held the circular device up to the light, squinting at it in hopes of discovering its secrets. He was pulled from his musings by a knock on the door. Janet and Henry never knocked so he figured that it had to be one of his superiors come to berate him for his skipping work once again. When he turned to address whichever superior had drawn the short stick this day, Anthony bumped into a firm chest.

“Miss Janet, I heard that you were here.”

“Captain Steven. What could you, second son of our beloved Father, leader of the Shield garrison, want with little old me?”

Janet spoke with clear amusement that came from familiarity while Anthony flailed backwards, his wings fluttering in surprise. He quickly turned his back on the soldier and made himself busy trying to mix the gear on his table around in hopes that Steven wouldn’t realize what he had.

“Well, it seems that young Peter and Felicia have been rather busy making eyes at each other. So busy in fact, that they have forgotten their duties more often than not.”

Everyone in the room knew that Janet had worked a little of her matchmaking magic on the two young soldiers. Anthony snorted thinking about the scrawny young soldier that had potential in tinkering ‘making eyes’ at the silver winged Felicia. Peter was far out of his league but if Janet was involved then Anthony figured the kid had a chance.

“Don’t worry Captain; I’ll make sure that they keep the rest of their wits about them.”

“I’d appreciate that very much Miss Janet. Good day. Good day to you as well Anthony.”

His wings tensed up when he heard Steve address him and he dared to sneak a peek over his shoulder to look at the soldier. Staring at the large gold dusted white wings walking away and Anthony knew that he might have a problem lusting for something more than interesting technology. When he turned back to Janet she was leaning in and grinning at him knowingly.

“Don’t.”

“I didn’t say a word.”

\----

The trouble started when Anthony went to test some of the new tech he had acquired. There wasn’t enough space in the small workshop he had put together to do everything that he wanted, besides he wasn’t dumb enough to turn on illegal technology inside the walls of Heaven. Instead he made his way to the walls of the city. There was an area right outside the east wall where some of the greenery of Heaven seeped out from underneath the wall and into Purgatory. It was the only place outside the wall that he knew of that wasn’t endless sand and heat.

Humans who lived inside Heaven never left the walls after they entered, and the humans outside the walls often camped nearest the entrances in hopes of gaining entry. And besides Sword, most angels never needed nor wished to leave the walls of Heaven. Even Anthony only went a small distance from the inside, never out of sight of the small green oasis.

It never occurred to him that other people would be in his usual spot. There had never been anyone there before. So when he landed on the top of the wall and got ready to float down to the other side, he was surprised to look down and see two figures. Now the walls of Heaven were as tall as any wall had ever been and so Anthony couldn’t immediately see who was down in his usual spot. Thinking quickly, he dug through his satchel that carried the technology and pulled out one device. He called it a watcher since it seemed that the only use for it was to watch things, but it did have the ability to zoom in.

Now all Anthony wanted to do was to see who was down in his spot and if they were someone he could trust to let him experiment without getting him into trouble. There had never been any intent to spy on something that he wasn’t supposed to see but that appeared to be his Father’s will, because when he zoomed in he immediately knew that he had stumbled upon something he shouldn’t have.

Johann was the first angel God had created and leader of the Sword garrison. Anthony never felt comfortable in his presence and never sought out the angel’s company. Johann always had an air of superiority and clearly wasn’t a fan of the number of humans in Heaven. The second figure wasn’t anyone that Anthony recognized but he recognized what they were. _Hydra._ Demons.

His wings must have spread out in surprise because their shadow spread out over the two, giving his location away. Anthony was frozen in place when he saw the look in Johann’s eyes, terror traveling like ice through his veins. For a moment time seemed to slow down, but the slightest twitch of Johann’s dark red wings set Anthony into motion. His wings flapped, desperately trying to gain some amount of speed even though he knew it was pointless. Johann was the first angel, there was no way Anthony could out fly him.

It didn’t take long to be caught. Johann’s large wings cast large shadows that drew attention from the city, including some of Sword’s soldiers. It was one of the other soldiers of Sword that caught Anthony, swooping in front of him when he tried to out maneuver the oldest angel.

“Help me, he’s-“

“Soldier, properly secure him. He has committed treason against the safety of Heaven by selling illegal technology and information to demons.”

Johann held up the satchel Anthony had brought with him to carry the technology that he wanted to test out. With a feeling of disbelief, Anthony looked down at his side where he had thought his bag still was. Turning to the soldier, Anthony tried giving a desperate silent plea for help. It was ignored.

They weren’t gentle with him as they dragged him through the sky. It was clear that they were heading to the central garden which was the political center of Heaven. Hopefully since they were bringing him to a very public space Anthony could possibly get someone else to help him. It was a long shot but it was definitely better than if they tried bringing him somewhere private.

“Call for an immediate gathering, there will be an execution today.”

Anthony flinched. He hadn’t thought that Johann would have the gall to try to do something like that in public.

“Execution, Johann?”

Both Johann and Anthony startled at the voice. Carol, one of Steven’s two second in commands, stood with her arms crossed over her chest and her golden wings closed tight to her back. Standing with her was Steven and Samuel, Steven’s other second in command.

“We don’t kill our brethren, Johann. You should know our laws just as well as I do.”

For the first time, the spark of hope seemed to have a chance to come through. Steven was going to save his life and Anthony would learn his lesson about taking dumb risks. Except Steven didn’t move to pull him out of Johann’s tight grip. Instead, he looked between his seconds and both of them gave a helpless shrug. The spark of hope was quickly dissipating.

“Of course I know our laws, _brother._ And this traitor has committed treason. He’s put Heaven in danger.”

“And we have procedures on how to deal with crimes like this.”

“Ahh, yes. If I remember correctly you let James take off with that demon whore of his.”

Samuel stepped in front of Steven, blocking his response with his red and white wings. He was obviously trying to keep the peace between the two head angels. It wouldn’t breed a feeling of security if Johann and Steven were seen fighting in public.

“Johann, if I may, what are this angel’s crimes against Heaven?”

“Consorting with demons. Trading illegal technology. Possessing illegal technology. Treason. Shall I go on?”

“No… I understand the severity of the crimes, but we shall stick to our laws. He shall be exiled from Heaven and his right wing will be taken so that all that see him know he has committed crimes against our Father and our people.”

The unhappy look on Steven’s face did nothing to soothe the emotions that Anthony was feeling.

\-----

Everything hurt. Whether that was a good thing or not, wasn’t clear yet but Anthony supposed that it at least meant that he was still alive. That was also up for grabs on whether that was a good thing or not.

“I wouldn’t roll over if I were you. I patched you up as best as I could but if you roll onto your back I can guarantee that my work will stay.”

Anthony opened his eyes and looked up at the source of the voice. Seated next to the bed he was laid on was a beautiful woman dressed in draping red fabric with curly brown hair. But no matter how beautiful she was and no matter how little he felt like an angel at the moment, Anthony was well aware of what she was and he jumped up into a sitting position. He looked around for a weapon but found nothing.

“I don’t intend to hurt you after saving you. Besides, Rhodey and Pepper would be upset after they spent the afternoon dragging you back to town.”

“You’re a demon.”

“Half demon, on my father’s side. My mother was human. Of course human doesn’t have quite the presence as demon blood does.”

Scientific curiosity started rearing its head again. He couldn’t help himself even after he had promised himself to make better life choices, he was curious and he felt the need to satisfy it. The woman chuckled, seemingly understanding his change in attitude.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get Rhodey and Pepper. They’ll want to meet the angel they saved. I- William, Thomas what did I tell you two about sneaking around?”

Two nearly identical heads were peaking at Anthony from a doorway although they disappeared the moment the woman addressed them. Anthony didn’t get much of a chance to ask anything as the woman followed after the two young men. It was a couple of minutes, plenty of time to take inventory of what was around him, before a dark skinned man and a freckled, red headed woman walked into the room.

“So what’s a marked angel doing this far out of Heaven?”

“What? No introductions, no foreplay? Straight to the questions? Besides, you already seem to understand the meaning of this.”

Anthony gestured to the shoulder that was missing a wing. The red headed woman nodded solemnly but the man only crossed his arms over his chest.

“We’re not going to get into any sort of trouble by taking you in are we? We’ve got some people that would like to stay out of Heaven’s radar.”

“Like your half demon friend?”

“Yes, like Wanda. So? You trouble?

The question brought forth a surprise burst of laughter from Anthony. Trouble? Of course he was trouble. Maybe not the trouble that the man was asking about but definitely trouble. The man sighed and shook his head.

“I’m going to regret this but I already know that I’m not kicking you back out into the desert; one of the problems with having a conscience. Name’s James Rhodes, everyone calls me Rhodey and this is-“

“Virginia Hogan, though if you’re smart you’ll call me Pepper. What’s your name?”

“Anthony, former angel of Heaven.”

The word ‘former’ was bitten out, clearly bitter and angry over what had happened to him to cause that change in title. For a moment Anthony just sat there and radiated anger and self-pity. It was reaching a fever pitch when Pepper sat down on the bed next to Anthony and smiled, offering her hand to him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Tony.”

\-----

Exile wasn’t as horrible as Tony had thought it was going to be. He wasn’t alone. The town, being in Purgatory, had a steadier stream of interesting technology roll through than Heaven did. Tinkering on all the new stuff was easily the best part of being exiled. Rhodey and Pepper and Wanda and the rest of the town were a close second. He still missed Janet and Henry, but it wasn’t a full body ache like he thought it would be.

On the other hand, being stuck on the ground wasn’t just as bad as he imagined, it was worse.

Every day he looked up at the sky and dreamed of a time when he could reach up and touch it. He had never thought about how much he had used his wings until one of them was gone. You never knew what you had until it was gone. Not only couldn’t he fly but he couldn’t express himself in the same way that he used to. Thankfully there were no other angels in the town to be confused by the missing wing body language but sometimes he had to remember that he was communicating with humans and had to figure out how to properly show his emotions.

“Tony, get your feathery ass out here. We’ve got a guest.”

Tony peaked out of the mass of scrap metal he was digging through when he heard Rhodey’s voice. His one wing twitched and he put down what he had in hand and carefully escaped from the mess that was his workshop. When Tony managed to get out from the room and outside, he saw who Rhodey was talking about.

The first noticed about them was that they were an extremely beautiful woman. The second was that she was a demon. Even if he couldn’t immediately tell because of his still angelic nature, the fact that she was able to wear a full black leather suit in the middle of the desert was a clue. He was immediately on edge and trying to look around to see if there was anything that he could use as a weapon nearby. Again he cursed his single wing, knowing that his once main defense was gone.

“I think I’ve scared him.”

“You scare a lot of people Natasha.”

Rhodey’s obvious comfort around the woman made Tony feel a little bit better but he still felt on edge around the woman. He made sure that he stood next to Rhodey so that if the woman did decide to attack he could easily put himself between her and his friend.

“How’d you find him Rhodes? There haven’t been angels this far out in a long time.”

“Well it’s not like I’m out here because I thought it would be a great vacation spot. If I was looking for a vacation there’d be just as much sand but more beachfront.”

The demon snorted but seemed amused with Tony which seemed like a good thing for the moment. For the first time since Tony had come out of his shop she really turned and looked at him, giving him a slow up and down. Even still, he had the feeling that it was more for his own benefit and that she had gotten everything that she needed to from the moment he had stepped out into the open.

“It’s been a while since I’ve met an angel with a sense of humor.”

“You met other angels before?”

Natasha tilted her head but didn’t get much more of an answer. Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to know if it meant that her answer was that she had slaughtered a bunch of his people. Exiled or not Tony was still an angel and they were people he still cared about. Even if they were mostly idiots and were being led by traitors.

“So Nat what are you doing here? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Longer since anyone’s seen Bucky.”

“He’s been busy. So have I.”

“Very informative.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes but seemed amused at the lack of actual answers given by Natasha. Tony felt like he was missing a story here. The woman was fast and managed to grab Tony’s shoulder before he saw her move and she spun him around, exposing his back to her. He tried to pry her fingers off his shoulder but she was stronger than she appeared.

“”They must not like you much, not as clean as other’s I’ve seen. Although… the extra bone will be helpful if you decide to make yourself a prosthetic.”

Tony made a face, already thinking about the problems of trying to make a prosthetic wing. For one there would be the weight of whatever material he used to make it which would almost definitely be heavier than his natural wing. Then there was balance, any sort of moment or spread, not to mention what was the point if he couldn’t fly with it. There were plenty of reasons why building a new wing was a pointless venture. And Tony listed them for her.

“It’s possible. There was once a man who could do it but he was just a man and he’s been dead for quite some time. But here I heard the messenger Anthony was a great tinkerer.”

While lust had been his main sin that he had to fight against in his everyday life, Tony could admit that there were days that he felt plenty of pride in his work. Actually, Tony was pretty sinful considering his heritage. It probably would have happened eventually; getting kicked out of paradise. But at the moment it was pride in his own abilities that was making him rethink his ability to do this.

Natasha seemed pleased that she succeeded in putting the idea back into Tony’s head. At this point there wasn’t a chance that he wouldn’t at least make one prototype, if only to prove that he could make one.

“It’s been good to see you again Rhodes. Every time I pass through this town the occupants seem more and more interesting. Maybe I’ll start visiting more often.”

Rhodey waited before Natasha was long gone, leaving town in a small cart that Tony couldn’t seeing her pick out of any vanity, before turning to the one winged angel and frowning.

“Natasha always has some sort of plan or angle. I can’t see her suggesting that to you without wanting something in return later. She’s not like most demons and she’ll help humans when she can but she is still a demon.”

It wasn’t anything that Tony hadn’t understood immediately after meeting Natasha. In his short time outside of Heaven he had learned that humans and demons weren’t exactly what he had been taught.

“And here I thought I was the one that needed to be more open minded about the demon society. What was it? Oh yeah. I had a closed minded mentality that came from being overburdened with feathers.”

Tony was being difficult but that was what he was best at. Rhodey had also seemed to be the best person Tony had ever met when it came to dealing with it. He couldn’t be thankful enough that he was able to at least meet Rhodey from all of this.

“Natasha isn’t like most demons. She’s… a higher class. She’s smart, cunning, and damn dangerous. The only reason this town is still here is because she lets it continue. So remember, everything she suggests is for her own gain. “

He nodded but both men knew that Tony wasn’t going to take Rhodey’s advice. He was building himself a damned new wing.

\-----

The first one is plain gunmetal grey and is nearly twice the size of his remaining wing. He builds supports into it so he can actually carry it without getting exhausted. It may have been his only model had he not tried to spread the wing out outside his workshop where the wind picked up just long enough for him to remember his longing to return to the sky.

Now that he has the basic idea, even if it isn’t perfect, the second prototype he takes the time to paint gold. It was the color of his official armor back home and he had always taken pride in it.

It’s the third one that he finally gets somewhere on. This one is able to spread out on its own. It still needs supports for him to walk around with but its more than the other two were able to do. The problem is the energy it takes. More than he can provide. Currently the weight also means that he can’t fly with it, but he isn’t in the position to get lighter weight material.

For a moment he thinks about the shield Steven carries, said to be indestructible yet light as air. It was said to be a gift from God himself for his favorite son. If he could get his hands on that he has little doubt he could build a wing light enough to fly on.

Of course, thoughts about the shield lead to thoughts about its owner. This, of course, leads to thoughts of the friends he still misses. Rhodey shows up that night and introduces Tony to the splendor of alcohol. It’s easy to see why it’s banned in Heaven. There’d be a lot of people looking to the bottle for answers rather than God.

When Tony tells Rhodey this, he laughs and tells him that’s the point.

The next morning he has a breakthrough. He thanks the damned bottle.

\-----

“So it was a power source?”

“I think so. I didn’t have long enough time with it before I got kicked out on my ass, but I did have a chance to look at it to get the basic idea. And I’m a genius so it shouldn’t be too difficult to complete with what I remember.”

Rhodey frowned and crossed his arms, he had that face that Tony had come to recognize as Rhodey’s ‘this sounds like a dumbass plan’ face. Tony grinned because he had also come to recognize it as meaning that he was on a stupid but probably correct path.

“Tones, you can’t even walk around without help when wearing one of your wings. What’s a power source going to do for you?”

“Well now that I can make the wings move with me instead of moving them myself, I’m one step closer to a being up in the air again. If I can get a power source, all I’ll need then is a lighter material.”

“Uh-huh and you’re going to just find that lying around somewhere despite the fact we don’t have anything like that?”

“That’s the plan.”

“ _Ohh, a plan._ Of course you have a plan. How am I not surprised?”

“Aww Rhodeybear your faith in me is your most attractive quality.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes; he was doing that more than he ever had in his life before meeting Tony, but leaned over the small table that Tony kept his designs on. Building and designing technology wasn’t Rhodey’s specialty but Tony knew that he was the one that would get him the supplies he needed to get his design completed.

“Come on, come on. Let me show you what to look for.”

\------ Steve POV ------

It hadn’t been an easy couple of months back in Heaven. Janet wouldn’t look at him for weeks after Anthony’s exile and when she talked to him again there was a sad look in her eye whenever the topic reminded her of the angel. Steven felt bad about the whole situation but it was the law and the crimes that Anthony had committed put innocent people in danger. It was one of the things that he could never abide by.

He hadn’t known Anthony well. They had an overlapping circle of friends and acquaintances but Steven had never taken the time to get to know the other man. He had watched him a few times. Enough times to know that he did have a tendency to skirt the laws, but he had always seemed like a decent angel.

“Steven?”

Carol announced herself as she entered Steven’s room. Despite being one of the highest angels in Heaven, Steven’s quarters weren’t anything too special. He preferred to be by the barracks with the rest of his SHIELD garrison. The only luxuries he allowed himself were a room to himself and a desk to write up all of his reports on. Of course it didn’t feel much like a room to himself when he kept an open door policy that most of his team took advantage of at any time of day or night.

“Yes Carol? Got your reports done? Or trying to get me to do them again?”

She laughed and grinned, bopping Steven on the back between his wings. Letting out a sigh of relief her wings stretched out comfortably. That was one thing that Steven didn’t envy about the barrack; no wing space.

“I’m here because it’s my turn to ask you whether you’re alright or not.”

“I’m fine Carol and you can tell Sam he can stop conscripting people into asking me that.”

“Samuel worries about you. He thinks that this whole situation with Anthony has you thinking about what happened with James. I know father had yet to breathe life into most of us when this happened but everyone knows the story. James betrayed you and he betrayed all of heaven. He was the first angel cast out.”

Steven’s wings flared out aggressively when she accused James of betrayal. “ _He didn’t-_!”

For a moment he was frozen, wings spread out and half out of his seat, and then Steve sat down again with a sigh. He put down the pen he had been holding down; it had been the unfortunate victim of his brief rage.

“Bucky did what he had to do.”

Carol settled over on Steven’s bed, obviously ready for a story. It made Steven chuckle. This wasn’t particularly a story that he enjoyed remembering let alone telling other people. It hurt. He missed his brother.

“Bucky… I.. I used to call James Bucky. He was the third of us all. Rebellious since he was just a fluff ball of feathers. I guess that should have been a warning that he wouldn’t be happy just following the life our father set out for us.”

It hadn’t been enough for Bucky. Instead he grew up into a great soldier that wanted to go out and see the world instead of sit behind the walls of Heaven’s gate. And somehow he had. Somehow he managed to avoid Steven enough that he had been able to explore far outside the walls.

No one would have known that Bucky was sneaking out if it hadn’t been for the demons that had followed him back. He had been young and careless at the time, unable to recognize the trail he left behind for others to follow. Heaven had been nearly burnt to the ground. At the time there had been only Johann, Bucky, a handful of angels, and himself. Just a couple of angels to fight a full demonic army.

They had been doing well. Each of the original angels was made to be warriors to protect the walls. After days of siege they were winning. He had gone to look to see who was still alive and had planned to team up with the rest of them in a final push against the demons.

He had found Bucky and Johann first, blades aimed at each other instead of the invading demons. Steven had been confused. It just didn’t seem to click in his head.

“Johann and James were fighting?”

That startled Steven. For a minute he had forgotten that he was telling Carol the story. He instead had been lost in the memory of the night that he had last the angel that he had seen as a precious little brother. Carol was leaning forward, obviously just as into the story as Steven was, just without the added memory of the event.

“Yes. Bucky had been defending a demon. Johann took offense to that.”

“Why would he do that?”

“He said he was in love with her.”

Behind Bucky had been a beautiful demon that had been very obviously injured. Blood as red as her hair was oozing out from her side and made an obvious stain on her black clothing. Even as injured as she was she was still pushing herself towards the shadows as the two angels fought viciously.

“Sounds like one of the human’s bad romance novels; forbidden love and all that.”

He nodded. Forbidden love seemed like something romantic and special when humans wrote their stories about it but for an angel it wasn’t meant to be. To be with a human would be to lower oneself and to be with a demon was unthinkable. Steven opened his mouth to continue the story when he was interrupted.

“I, of course, struck down the traitor. My final blow was to take off his wing, letting the world know that he had allowed himself to be defiled by a demon whore.”

Steven flinched and looked over his shoulder to see Johann. Carol had already stood up to show respect for the oldest angel’s position but Steven simply nodded at him. He hated the way that Johann told the story, even if he understood that Bucky had broken the laws of Heaven.

“Now if you do not mind soldier, I need to speak to Steven privately.”

Carol looked to Steven first, waiting for his approval before nodding her head and quietly slipping around Johann and out the door. Johann watched her walk away. When she was gone he shut the door and turned back to Steven.

“It seems we might have a repeat performance.”

Johann dumped something on Steven’s desk. It took a moment before he realized what it was. The hunk of metal was the device, or incredibly similar to, the one that had been proof of Anthony’s treason.

“My garrison has found the source of this outside technology. It seems to be the same demon that lured James away.”

This pulled Steven’s attention completely on the situation. Since Bucky had disappeared there had been no word from or of him. There hadn’t even been any word on the red headed demon that had helped Bucky escape Johann’s sword when Steve had been frozen with surprise and confusion.

“I thought that you might wish to know and participate in this investigation. I can have my seconds take you with when they go to confront this demon. I will take over watch of Heaven while you are gone. I’m sure your seconds will be helpful while I take over. Mine shall follow your lead into battle.”

“I, thank you Johann. This means more to me than I can say. It’s been too long since I’ve seen Bucky and I’d like to know what he fate was; even if it isn’t what I had hoped it to be. Are you sure you can handle it here without me? I mean, we’ve been at our own jobs so long. I’ve kind of forgotten what it’s like to be beyond Heaven.”

“You will be fine brother. Now, go find my seconds and get the details about the mission. I shall take care of Heaven in your absence.”

\-----

“I can come with. Samuel can take care of the rest of the garrison by himself.”

Steven rolled his eyes at Carol’s worried expression. SHIELD and SWORD were both necessary in order to protect Heaven but the two rarely even had any chance to interact. SWORD was almost always outside of the walls while SHIELD never left. The two never interacted, even in training. Steven had long thought that this was an outdated practice.

“Sam can take care of the garrison but he can’t do that and make sure that Johann settles into to the duties of SHIELD at the same time. And I know Johann is not your favorite but he’s doing me a great favor by letting me take this mission. Please Carol.”

Carol crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Steven knew that he had her then. He grinned brightly and gave her a quick kiss to her temple. She swatted at him and rolled her eyes, a matching smile on her face.

“Thanks Carol.”

“Be careful.”

“I always am.”

\-----

The flight was long but enjoyable. It had been a while since he had been allowed to work his wings this much. Still it wasn’t the same without his team. The SWORD angels were silent where as his angels would have been rambunctious and playful. It always seemed that SHIELD was more like a family where as SWORD was a military organization.

It left him a lot of time to think. Of course, none of his thoughts were calm or peaceful; instead they were raging and racing. He wondered if he would actually find anything out about Bucky. Or would the red headed demon have left him long ago? If she hadn’t, would Bucky still be with her? Would he be there when they found her? What had he been through since leaving Heaven? Would he be willing to come home?

“Sir?”

One of the soldiers called Steve back to attention. He had to swoop up in order not to run into the angel in front of him that had slowed to a stop with the rest of the group. Normally he would fly in the front of the group but as he was a guest in this mission and didn’t know the way as well as they did.

“Yes? Sorry, I was a little distracted.”

“We’re here.”

Steven looked around and saw nothing but sand. He couldn’t see how this was going to be the place that they’d find the red headed demon. Of course this was their home turf and they interacted with demons more than most. He followed the rest of the team as they descended to the sand.

“We shall scout around. You shall stay here with the package.”

They had a satchel filled with the technology that they found on Anthony a few months ago. It was supposed to help their cover that they were trying to trade for parts. The subterfuge wasn’t Steven’s forte so he simply nodded and allowed for the rest of the angels to spread out.

They were gone for a while. A few were still close enough that he could see the outlines of their wings in the distance but some of them were too far gone to see. In the distance he could see the shadows of buildings. He wondered if it was an active human settlement or if it was where they were to expect to meet the demon.

As he had been for days now, he was deep in thought. It was only training and god given senses that allowed for him to avoid the first blow. For a moment he thought the demon had appeared and was attacking but he caught sight of the armor his attacker was wearing and knew.

He went to pull his sword out only to find it missing. That realization was followed by a sudden pain in his lower back. Steven whipped around flaring out his wings, trying to hit whoever was behind him. It was another angel.

Even caught off guard and being a general optimist about people, Steven was well aware of what this was. The demon had never been found and this had all been to get him out of the city. He just didn’t understand why. Well, he was going to find out once he took care of his attackers and returned home.

He still had his shield and it was common knowledge that Steven was able to use it just as much as a weapon as he was able to use it in defense. Although its defensive properties did help when there were three separate angels trying to slash at him with their swords.

Knowing that there were at least four more angels that had yet to show up in the fight, Steven knew he had to take care of the three that were here right now. Three angels at once were difficult yet possible, but seven would be able to take him down.

“How do you expect to explain my disappearance? My garrison is bound to notice if you come back empty handed and without me.”

Just like the flight out here there was silence in response. Johann’s team was well trained and didn’t take the bait of getting distracted by conversation. If he made it back he would complement the other angel on his training of soldiers before taking his wing.

“Come on. I’m sure Johann would want to talk about his reasons and about how he’s going to be better at everything that I did. You’re going to let him lose his chance, even vicariously?”

They just kept coming and Steven had to bite back a curse when he saw two more join into the fight. Suddenly he had taken Carol up on her offer. Between the two of them they could have taken them all out. One angel grabbed a handful of feathers and ripped them out. He hissed, knowing that was going to make flying more difficult. Trying to get the angels off his back Steven flapped his wings as hard as he could, but two more angels joined the first in holding his wings down.

The three angels managed to push him down to the ground and hold him there. Despite his squirming and attempts to flip off his attackers they had the advantage. He could help the cry that escaped when a sword pierced through each wing. Steven managed to turn his head enough to look at his attackers and snared. There was no way he was going to snivel if this was the end of his life.

Of course luck seemed to be on his side today because before the final blow could have even be raised there was a loud noise and the lead attacker fell, blood dripping from his chest. Immediately he recognized the signs of human weaponry. There were three more gunshots that rang out and three more bodies fell.

The remaining angels took flight and made towards the gunshots. It was difficult but Steven managed to push himself up off the ground. In the short distance he could see a cart where the gunshots had come from. He squinted for a moment trying to see who it was.

Snarling in pain, he managed to pull one of the swords out from his wing. He tried to push off and get into the air after the others but found that he couldn’t. Instead he had to chase after them on foot. There were more gunshots but now that they were aware of the shooter the SWORD soldiers were better about avoiding them.

As he got closer to the cart he noticed what appeared to be large, electrical sparks being shot out at the soldiers. One of the soldiers swooped down close to the cart and Steve instinctively threw his shield.

“Holy—Captain?”

For the first time he noticed that the second figure in the cart was an angel. He hadn’t realized it from afar where he couldn’t tell that there was only one wing instead of something inside the cart. It took a moment to recognize the crimson wing but once he did he immediately knew who was in the cart.

“Get down!”

“I’d duck darling.”

The moment his shield returned to his hands Steve shouted his warning and flung the shield again. Anthony pushed down the man with the gun sitting next to him. His round shield whistled through the air and hit the edge of the cart, ricocheting off and hitting another target. The man with the gun shrugged Anthony off and stood up, shooting his gun twice, and hitting the second to last soldier twice.

Seeing that there wasn’t anything for him to do, the last angel took off. Steven couldn’t follow him far with his wings in such disrepair. For a moment he looked to Anthony, forgetting that he couldn’t follow either.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Steven slouched from his wounds and Anthony and the human next to him simply stared at him. Anthony sighed and jumped out of the cart, and offered Steven a hand up. It took Steven a moment but he accepted the hand.

“What’s that on your back?”

Anthony grinned brightly and used his free hand to gesture to the side where his wing had been cut off.

“This? This is my wing skeleton. I’m making myself a new one. A better one! They’re a bit too heavy right now but with this skeleton I can put them in and easily replace them with better models. Still working out some of the kinks and what’s that? Is that? It is!”

Steven’s hand was promptly released and Anthony practically dove for the satchel that he had forgotten about in the fight. He pulled out the tech and practically cooed over it as he looked it over.

“Rhodey! It’s my power source. I can’t believe it. Look at my luck.”

His single crimson wing flapped excitedly. The ‘wing skeleton’ gave the attempt to move but only managed a little twitch. Figuring that he had been abandoned to getting up on his own, he used his shield to push himself back up.

The human, Rhodey apparently, seemed to care more about him than Anthony did. His gun was still raised and pointed at Steven. His shield would easily deflect the bullets but the cart had a horse and Steven was stuck to his feet. He wouldn’t be able to get away without fighting the man.

It seemed that Anthony finally realized that there was still some tension between the two because he looked up and between the two men with surprise.

“Woah, woah Rhodey. This is the Captain. Y’know Captain Steve, second in command of all Heaven. Very fancy title I know Rhodey, but don’t feel like you need to bow or anything.”

There was a pause before Rhodey lowered his gun and took over helping Steven into the cart. Anthony pulled himself up into the back easily as he continued to poke and prod at the little device.

“So why are you out here playing victim to a murder plot.”

It was pretty impressive how Anthony was able to not look up at all or even appear that he had spoken. Steven looked over to the human who looked more curious than Anthony. For a moment he contemplated not saying a word about what he already figured was a power grab. Anthony had been cast out for treason, for providing information to demons. Should the demons find out that there was any in fighting they could use that as an opportunity to try to make another grab for Heaven. After a moment of contemplation he shrugged.

“I let myself get fooled. They played with my desire to find someone.”

“Let me guess, it was Johann. He is after all a traitorous asshole who knows how to work a situation.”

“How did you know it was Johann?”

Anthony looked up at that. There was a frown marring his face along with a crease between his eyes. Gently he put down the device and reached behind his shoulder to rub at the remaining stub of his wing.

“I caught him interaction with demons. Which is why he pinned it on me.”

“Oh…. I’m sorry Anthony.”

“Ehh, worked out for the best. Heaven’s boring and stuffy. Speaking of which, it’s Tony. Anthony just screams boring messenger that follows directions. And everyone knows how well that works out. We should probably call you Steve. Steven is very stick up the assish.”

“Assish isn’t a word Tony.”

“Well you’ll have to give me another slang lesson later then Rhodey.”

It was clear that the two were friends. Steve wondered how long Tony had been here. Had he interacted with these people before or had he met them after being cast out? Which, now that he knew the true nature of Johann, he felt sick to his stomach about.

“Glad to see you found some place to fit in An…Tony.”

At that Steve fell unconscious. He had lost a lot of blood, his feathers were matted with blood and many were ripped out, and add to that he was just tired from the flight out here. He’d deal with getting home and dealing with Johann later.

\------ Tony POV ------

“He is rather beautiful. Just what I’d expect from a warrior of god.”

Tony pouted as Wanda worked. It wasn’t like he had any claim on the higher ranked angel but he didn’t have to enjoy the fact that it was so obvious how desirable the other man was. Of course, Wanda was playing with him if the small smile on her face had anything to say about it.

“And what am I? Chopped angel liver?”

Wanda patted Tony on the head as she would Tommy or Billy. That just made his pout worse because he hated being treated like a child, even if he acted like one. The half demon went back to work. She was currently sewing up the sword wound on Steve’s side. She had yet managed to get to the ones on the wings.

“Will he be alright?”

“He’ll be fine Tony. He was already starting to heal when you brought him in. It appears that his healing is faster than yours.”

Nodding, Tony stood up and said goodbye. He wanted to wait until the Captain was up and about and find out what’s been happening in Heaven. Has Janet been well? Were Felicia and Peter still making eyes at each other? Did anyone miss him? The call of technology and science was stronger. He finally had his power source which meant he was one step closer to flying again.

“Once I’m done here with him I’ll be by your workshop to help you power up the device.”

“Thanks Wanda, there isn’t much hope that there’s power left over so your magic will probably be a godsend. Although I think we need a better name for it than device. Something that’s less boring.”

She smiled and nodded. While a big supporter of science over magic, even Tony knew when it was helpful to mix the two in experiments. Outside Wanda’s house Rhodey, Pepper, and surprisingly Natasha were standing around, speaking in conspiratorial tones.

“Woah, woah, woah. What’s this? Not planning any nefarious plot I hope.”

“We’re discussing what this new development means for our town.”

Tony frowned and wondered what they meant. The looks on their faces appeared worried and almost afraid. He didn’t remember them having these expressions when he showed up. Of course, he hadn’t known them well enough back then to know their every expression. But he couldn’t understand what could be so different between his appearance and Steve’s.

“What do you mean, ‘what it means’?”

“Tones, they were trying to kill him. They brought him out of Heaven to murder him and we interrupted. Now, angels won’t bother towns that take in one wingers but who knows what they’re going to do when we have someone that they are actively hunting? We should turn him loose once he’s awake.”

“Rhodey, we can’t do that! We brought him into town so he’s our responsibility.”

“I agree with Pep-“ “He’s going to bring the angels right down on us.”

It was starting to turn into a mild yelling match. Pepper and Tony were for allowing Steve to stay as long as he wanted or needed to. Rhodey was adamant that if Steve stayed then the whole town would be in trouble. It went in circles for a few minutes before Natasha interrupted voice clear but strong as she broke through all the fighting.

“It’s too late to cut him loose now James. Johann will burn any town that he crosses through. The Captain is better to you here and alive; preferably in peak fighting condition.”

“You know Johann?”

While humans and demons everywhere were aware of angels, it was rare that anyone outside of the city of Heaven knew of the hierarchy or the names of the people in it. Again the idea that Natasha was no good crossed through Tony’s mind but he waited. If she traded with Johann that would mean that she would have some sort of proof that they could use against him.

“Our paths crossed at one point. As did mine and Steven’s.”

There was no way that Steven would ever interact with a demon without taking them into custody so it seemed that there was a story here that Tony just didn’t know. He opened his mouth to ask but Natasha spoke over anything he tried to say.

“I have to go. This is new information and information is precious. Just remember, you’ll need him. And Tony? Tell Steven that James misses him.”

Before he could ask why Rhodey would miss Steve at all, Natasha had already disappeared into the closest shadow. One of these days he was going to have to ask how she managed to slink away so well. Even when you saw her go he couldn’t follow her movements.

“Well, while you decide on whether or not to kick the angels out of town, I’m going to go work on finishing my wing.”

“Tony, whether or not we welcome him to stay _you_ are still welcomed here.”

He understood and knew that but the problem was, there was a desire to see Johann get his and he knew that if he followed Steve then he’d end up seeing that. Of course if there were deeper reasons and desires to be with the other angel, those were just for Tony to know.

\------

It took only two days with Wanda’s help to get the power source, which was now called the ark, to work and install it with his wing skeleton. With it, the skeleton was able to move easily on its own. He had even messed with the wings so that the energy expelled from the ark was pushing the metal wing off the ground and letting it float without bothering Tony.

After that it was another two days before Steve woke up. Tony had to figure that it had something to do with Wanda, the fact that he stayed unconscious for so long, but it was probably for the best. His wings hadn’t been pretty nor had the hole in his side.

Tony had avoided Steve the first day he had been awake, unsure if the other angel wanted to be around him. He was after all, convicted of treason and Steve was all about protecting Heaven. So, Tony stayed in his shop, gave his wing an obnoxious red and gold paint job, figured out a formula for a lighter but durable metal, and tried to sneak looks at Steve when he couldn’t help himself.

Early the second day Steve was awake found the Captain leaning against Wanda’s doorframe, very obviously catching Tony in the act of spying on him.

“Anthony… Tony. Did you wish to speak to me?”

The triumphant look at catching Tony turned sheepish as he spoke. His golden wings were still a good deal wrapped up in bandages and there were a few specks of blood that managed to seep through. Still, his wings managed to twitch nervously and his eyes left Tony’s and stared at the dusty ground.

“I, well-“

“I’m sorry. I should have been more cautious of Johann but he is the oldest of us and I couldn’t see a reason why he would betray us. Then again I still don’t see a reason. It’s unfathomable. But I should have really tried to find out whether or not you were guilty. You… you lost your wing due to my carelessness.”

The golden wings drooped guiltily. Tony wasn’t good at comfort. There was some sting at not being defended against Johann but all the anger and hatred was for the man himself. The one that had taken his wing was Johann.

“It’s the second time I allowed him to do that. I wonder now if I had been just as naïve then as I am now.”

“Second? There haven’t been many exiles recently. Or have there been more since I left?”

“No, none since you left. It was a long time ago…James.”

Again it sounded like a story that should end in comfort that Tony wasn’t good at giving. So instead of pushing for more information, he simply nodded. Apparently this was a story that Natasha knew. Maybe the next time she stopped into town he’d pry it from her.

“So you’ve been well? Here with these humans and…”

“Demons? I think the word you’re looking for is demons. We~ll technically half and quarter demons, but demons none the less.”

“Yes?”

The sheepish look returned and Tony decided that this was a much better look than the gloom and doom that he had been throwing out a moment ago. Tony grinned and closed the distance between the two. This was the longest that they had ever talked together uninterrupted or unaided by anyone else.

“They’re great people. All of them. Would’ve died without them. Wait! No more ‘kicked puppy’ looks. I’m alive and well on my way to making a new, usable wing. No more annoying messenger duties getting in the way of science. It’s good. I like it here so stop looking like I stomped on your flower garden.”

Both of Steve’s eyebrows went up at that and he stared down at Tony. Tony just grinned widely and tugged on Steve’s arm.

“Come on, I’m sure Rhodey already talked to you and you’ve probably met most of the town, but now you’re up! It’s time to officially meet everyone. You’ll probably like Pepper best; she’s not trying to kick you out of town like Rhodey is. Which is stupid because you’re injured and need to rest some more. I doubt you’ll bring any danger to the town.”

Tony continued to ramble for a second before realizing that Steve was starting to dig his feet into the ground.

“Danger? Is Johann threating the people here?”

“What? No! Rhodey’s just being his normal worrywart self as usual. Stop fretting! I swear I never thought you were the type to fret so much back in Heaven. You always looked so stern and in control. All my visions of you are dashed!”

“Sorry?”

“Yeah, you better be.”

_Oh._ That was the smile that Tony had always wanted for himself.

\------

It was three weeks after Steve had become the newest member of the town. Tony had to admit how weird it felt to see the great Captain of SHIELD helping out with chores around town. It wasn’t how he ever imagined getting close to the elusive captain. Most of his day dreams included less clothing and more lust filled passions. He did have to thank Wanda for giving Steve plenty of physical tasks. The way the clothes clung to his golden skin was extremely pleasant. And distracting. He should be working on another wing design not remembering how Steve looked the day before.

“Your wing is a mess.”

Of course it was when he was distracted from even his own thoughts that Steve snuck up on him. Steve’s own wings were no longer wrapped in bandages or bleeding but there were still some patches of feathers that hadn’t grown back in yet. Last week Steve had been able to fly for half an hour but couldn’t push himself passed that.

“What?”

“Your wings. They’re a mess. Do you even groom them?”

“No?”

Steve laughed, bright and happy. He moved into the little workshop and ran a hand through Tony’s good wing. He had to suppress a shiver at the feeling of someone touching his wing in a nonmedical or technical way. Wing grooming wasn’t just between mates or family but it was a sign of great trust. The last time he had allowed someone to groom his wings was back when he and Jan were courting.

“I didn’t think so. They make you look like a fledgling.”

The laughter got louder when Tony puffed up in offense. He wasn’t sure what it was about this town that everyone compared him to a child but it was an annoying habit that people were getting.

“Come on, I used to groom the SHIELD fledglings. Most of them don’t know how to do it themselves yet, and they still want to learn how to fight.”

Tony let Steve guide him to the one stool in the room. His metal wing was hung up right now; he had been tinkering with some of the wiring hoping to get some more power from the ark. His natural crimson wing spread out, remembering how it was supposed to be when allowing someone else to touch your wings.

The Captain’s hands were rough. They weren’t soft and pleasant like Janet’s had been but there was something about the slight rough touch that was addicting and made him want to lean more into the touch.

“At least it shouldn’t take too long. Only got one wing to do.”

Steve’s hands stopped and Tony turned around to figure out why he’d do such a horrible thing. When he did turn around to see Steve’s face, he wanted to kick himself. Steve looked upset and guilty again. It seemed that Tony had a great instinctual ability to open mouth insert foot around Steve.

“Oh come on. I’m the one that’s supposed to decide whether or not to be upset about being only half an angel.”

“But I should have-“

“Too late now, besides it’s in the past now. Look to the future.”

That got the hands moving again so Tony counted it as a win. He glanced over his shoulder again, watching Steve’s face crinkle in concentration. He wanted to kiss him. It had been a while since he started lusting after Steve, but this time it felt different, fragile. Maybe it was because now he had gotten to know Steve underneath the armor (well not all the way under the armor to his regret) instead of just as the far away Captain.

This was a moment when he wished he had both wings. With both wings he knew how to flare them beautifully. Steve would know exactly what he meant. But with just one wing his message would be muddle and confused.

And yet this was probably the best chance he had, so he let his one wing arc up at a gentle curve, feathers starting to twitch and shiver. Steve’s hands kept going for a moment before pausing once more. Tony turned to fully face him this time. There was intent in Steve’s eyes but Tony was never one for patience and his pressed forward and kissed him.

Steve kissed back and it was glorious. Large golden wings surrounded him and it was the first time in months that Tony was completely surrounded by feathers. There was an added comfort given from it. Tony was vicious in his kiss, hands digging into Steve’s hair and feathers and pressing hard against Steve’s body. Steve, on the other hand, kissed softly and tenderly.

When Tony started pawing at Steve’s shirt, Steve gently pushed him back. Tony whined as he was pushed back and tried to get back to kissing.

“Why?”

“Because we have guests.”

Tony was about to call him crazy when Steve’s wings withdrew and for the first time he realized that Rhodey was in the doorway of workshop. Rhodey looked amused and annoyed at the same time about catching the two in that position, even if Steve’s wings were covering all the fun things.

“Rhodey. Carol.”

He hadn’t noticed the figure before, having focused on Rhodey’s presence. Tony remembered Carol from before, being one of Steve’s seconds. It seemed that there was an inordinate amount of beautiful people in SHIELD. Jealously was hopefully not going to be a factor.

Carol pushed past Rhodey and flung herself into Steve’s arms, pushing Tony out of his arms as a consequence. She was grumbling something into Steve’s ear but Steve was calmly rubbing her back and hushing her.

“I knew they couldn’t have taken you down.”

Steve chuckled into her ear and he gently pushed her back to look at her face. Tony was doing his best not to feel put out about being forgotten so easily.

“What are you doing here Carol? You should be back in Heaven.”

“They said you were a traitor. That you killed the SWORD soldiers with no reasoning. Johann took over SHIELD as well as being in charge of SWORD. He’s basically taken over control of Heaven.”

The air between the two went from joyous reunion to anger immediately. Steve frowned and stood up and his wings twitched with anticipation.

“Johann tried to have me killed.”

“That’s what we figured. Sam stayed behind to monitor Johann but me and a couple of the younger soldiers went looking for you. We need to do something about Johann Steve. That he was willing to go out to try to kill you, it doesn’t say anything good.”

“So we have to do something about it right?”

Out of everyone in the room it was Rhodey that had spoken up. The three angels in the room turned to look at the sole human.

“Well, this guy hurt Tones. Sounds to me like Tony deserves to get some pay back and I know for a fact that he’s horrible on his own.”

Tony looked at Rhodey in shock. He had figured that they had become friends since he started living in town but he hadn’t expected Rhodey to volunteer for something like this on his behalf. He was touched. Carol looked amused. Steve, of course, looked worried.

“I like him. Are all the people in this town so interesting?”

“Yep. Best town in the middle of nowhere.”

Steve of course took this time to step in and ruin the steadily forming ‘Rhodey kicks Johann’s ass and saves the day’ plan. Well at least this way Tony could be suitably impressed with Steve and not be forced to run off with Rhodey after making out with Steve.

“I appreciate the thought Rhodey but this isn’t your fight and it will be dangerous. You need to be here for the town.”

Rhodey frowned, obviously wanting to call bullshit, but he allowed Steve to make his point. For the next couple of hours they talked plans and strategies. Sam and Carol had formed most of the battle plans before they had even went out looking for Steve. The soldiers inside Heaven’s walls knew what to do. The problem would be getting the ones outside of it back in.

Tony argued that they could just fly in, if the soldiers within the walls were already fighting one another they were likely to be distracted. Carol nodded but Steve disagreed, he knew that the SWORD soldiers were well trained. They’d have contingent plans and it would be better to have a more stealthy entrance.

They argued into the night.

\------

In the end they had managed to come up with a great plan that had everyone sneak in and work their way to the center of the city as the two garrisons fought one another. Of course, the plan panned out and they ended up going with Tony’s plan of flying straight into the mess. Instead of waiting for their signal to start the fighting with Johann’s forces, they found that SWORD and SHIELD were already fighting one another by the time that they got to the city. There were people, humans and angels alike, flooding out from the gates of the city trying to flee the chaos.

Steve and Tony went forward while Carol was ordered to organize the safe escape from the city for the innocent bystanders. She complained loudly about this but Steve argued that besides him, she was the only one with the training to do so, and Steve had dibs on fighting Johann.

Tony had no idea why he was following them. He wasn’t a soldier, he didn’t fight. But he continued forward none the less, watching Steve in his gold armor with his shield fight through the throngs of soldiers between him and Johann.

One soldier seeing Tony’s weakness went for him. Steve screamed for Tony to move but it was too late, the soldier was on him. Tony kicked and struggled to get out of the angel’s grasp. The soldier pulled his sword back intending to strike when he started to shake viciously and collapsed on top of Tony.

“Anthony!”

Janet was soon flinging herself into Tony’s arms crying and babbling about him being alive. He hugged her back with all the strength he could with crushing her. Pulling back only slightly, he took a good look at her. There was a streak of blood across her cheek but she looked frazzled.

“Jan what happened? Why did the fighting start early?”

“Early? Johann declared that all SHIELD soldiers were traitors. He claimed he tried to give them redemption but they refused it. So he’s ‘purifying’ Heaven of them. What are you even doing here Tony? My only comfort in all of this was that you were at least going to be far away from them.”

He offered her a half smile and shook his head.

“You know me, I have to be in the middle of the chaos or I’m not happy. Now you get out of here. Carol is supervising the escape for everyone. I have to go with Steve.”

Tony looked around and realized that Steve was nowhere to be seen. He cursed under his breath and looked around desperately. He wanted to be there when Johann went down but he also wanted to be there to make sure that Steve was alright.

“Tony!”

Janet pointed at a group of SWORD soldiers coming at them quickly. This time his cursing was loud. He had no weapon and Janet wasn’t ready to fight an enjoy group of soldiers on his own. There didn’t look to be much hope in going forward. He was about to suggest that Janet run while he distracted the soldiers when they fell asleep.

They just simply fell asleep where they stood.

“It is highly improbable for an entire team of soldiers to simply fall asleep during battle.”

Tony whipped around and grinned. There was Wanda, her red robes flaring around her beautifully.

“Hello Tony. Rhodey, Happy and Pepper are helping Carol with the evacuation. Billy and Tommy are looking for anyone that is trapped. And I believe I saw Natasha somewhere around here. She had the most interesting and impossible companion with her. I approved.”

If there was anything that Tony would even thank Johann for it was allowing him to meet these people. They were the best and he was so thankful that they were here with him even if they were spread out.

“Wanda any chance you’ve seen Steve.”

“No, I honestly expected the two of you to be together.”

“We were but we got separated. Stopped to catch up with an old friend.”

Despite Wanda’s clearly demonic nature Janet happily chirped a hello even with grime and blood on her. Wanda took pity on her state and soon Janet was back in clean clothing. Tony was about to suggest regrouping with the evacuation group when there was an intensive howling scream. Tony had to cover his ears in order to protect himself. Wanda and Janet followed his lead but Wanda soon released one ear to point at the sky.

Steve was falling.

\------ Steve POV ------

Bucky was alive and back in Heaven. Johann had been struck down by rouge lightning that did not burn him but instead transformed his face into a wretched red façade. And Steve was falling.

He had been fighting through angels when he and Tony had gotten separated. There hadn’t been enough time in order to stop and look for Tony. All he could do was continue forward. Of course Johann was exactly where Steve expected him to be; in the middle of it all.

It was clear that he had gone crazy. How Steve had missed it for so long seemed wrong and impossible. Johann talked about powers that could be, about taking god down from his thrown, to being a new god. It was insanity. The two fought desperately. Johann was the original angel, just a little bit too much of every quality; a tad too strong, a tad too smart, a lot too crazy. It meant that he was a difficult fight. Steve was the second model; strong, smart, and kind.

He didn’t notice when Bucky entered the situation. He and Johann were far too deep into their fight to tell. But Bucky got both of their attentions when he shot a bullet through Steve’s shoulder and into Johann. It took a moment for Steve to recognize him. He looked older and worldlier, and the wing that had been cut off in his last encounter with Johann was replaced with a perfect metal wing.

Again time seemed to speed up as it became two against one. Bucky and Steve fell back into old moves and techniques as easily as breathing. They were winning too. The two of them together against Johann were able to push him back, put him on defense.

Of course Johann always had a plan.

This plan included a weapon that Steve never expected to see. No man or angel was allowed into God’s armory but there it was; a glowing cube that Steve remembered from the start of his existence and never again. He tried to call out to Johann, to warn him, but he wouldn’t listen.

His scream as the cube caused his face to transform was unbearable. The cube fell from his grasp but Steven didn’t care. Johann, still snarling and growling in pain, lunged forward trying to tackle Steve out of the sky. Johann managed to slash at his wings, reopening the injuries from before. Bucky slammed into Johann, dragging him from Steve.

And he was falling.

\-----

The next time he woke up the city didn’t seem to be on fire so he counted that as something positive. His whole body was sore like he had been dropped onto an armory.

“You awake Cap?”

He recognized the voice but it was more tentative than he ever remembered. There was Tony sitting next to him, with a brand new wing design attached to his back. There didn’t appear to be any obvious injuries on him.

“Bucky?”

“He’s gone. He disappeared with Johann. No one’s been able to find him.”

Of course. Bucky had managed to avoid people for so long, he wasn’t surprised that he disappeared the moment he wasn’t needed anymore.

“Wait. Johann disappeared? We don’t have him in custody?”

Tony shook his head. Steve cursed loudly. This was a horrible thing. Johann was obviously dangerous insane and any time he wasn’t in custody was time that he could be using to hurt innocent people. Goodness only knew what he could be doing at that moment. When Steve looked up he realized that Tony was giving him an odd look.

“What?”

“You swear?”

“Sure I do. I do plenty of things.”

At that Tony’s eyebrows both flew up into his hairline before he gave Steve a lewd grin.

“Oh? Any of them interesting? It doesn’t look like we’ll be having company, if you want to show me.”

Tony started crawling on top of Steve. Steve’s wings were puffing up happily. Or, at least they were, until Tony’s knee bumped into his ribs and there was burning pain expanding through his chest.

“No, no no no. Oww.”

“Oh come on! I only have so much patience.”

“And you’ll have to keep it a bit longer.”

Tony looked up and groaned. Rhodey and everyone must have heard Steve talking and come to say hello. Nice and all but that meant that there was even less likely going to be some fun between the two of them now. He was about to complain a bit more when he felt a hand caressing his lower back. He smiled at Steve who was smiling dumbly back at him.

The rest of the group came in in turns to give Steve their well wishes until they were all gone. At that point Tony curled up next to him in the large bed he was resting in.

“I’m going after Bucky and Johann.”

“I know. And I’m going with you. There’s plenty of time between now and when you leave for me to build some tech that we can use.”

“Everyone coming with?”

“Probably. Which means we’re getting a tent with a door.”

Steve laughed.


End file.
